


Shoot Straight

by social justicar (bossassbirch)



Series: Seung Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Custom Commander Shepard, Guns, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Mass Effect 3, Snipers, Soldier (Mass Effect), Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), Spacer (Mass Effect), Synthesis Ending, mshenko in name only tbh, other characters mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 02:56:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8604427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bossassbirch/pseuds/social%20justicar
Summary: Seung-hyun Shepard is thirteen years old the first time he holds a gun.  “Take deep breaths,” his mother reminds him.  “Shoot straight, son.”
Snippets from Commander Seung Shepard's life, right up to the end.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in the fandom, so be gentle with me lmao. I've played the trilogy over half a dozen times, each time with a new Shepard, and only two have really stood out to me. Seung is one of them. His faceclaim is Steven Yeun. I love him, and I want you to love him too.

     Seung-hyun Shepard is thirteen years old the first time he holds a gun.  He is frightened, but his mother puts a calming hand on his shoulder and gently adjusts his grip.  “It’s okay to be scared, Seung,” she begins, pausing briefly to consider her words carefully.  “Fear keeps you alive.  We live in a dangerous galaxy, full of things to fear.  Even if you don’t chose a career in the Alliance, I need to know you can protect yourself.”

     Seung tightens his grip, eager to please.  “Yes ma’am.  May I shoot now?”

     Hannah nods her head, arms crossed.  The sound of the shot reverberates through the SSV Einstein’s shooting range, and Seung winces at the noise.  Hannah calls the target forward, and together they inspect it. 

     “I missed.” Seung’s eyebrows furrow in frustration. 

     Hannah resets the target.  “It was your first time.  You just need practice.”

     Seung nods emphatically before raising the pistol once more, closing one eye carefully.  “Take deep breaths,” Hannah reminds him.  “Shoot straight, Seung-hyun.”  Seung exhales, and the world seems to slow.  Everything fades except for his heartbeat and the touch-warmed metal in his hands.  He squeezes the trigger, and the world explodes back into vibrant sound.  “Headshot!” Hannah smiles wide, turning to her son.  “Great job, ace.”  Seung barely registers her words, eyes still focused on the target in front of him. 

     Seung-hyun Shepard is thirteen years old the first time he holds a gun.  He is frightened, but his hands do not shake. 

* * *

      Six years later, Seung finds himself rolling through the sand on Akuze, a biotic thrust to the chest knocking him backwards across the dunes.  “Cover me,” his vanguard squadmate shouts as she charges into the fray. 

     Seung fumbles momentarily as he wrestles a clip into his M-97 Viper, the familiar feeling of the well-worn handle grounding him in the moment.  _Breathe_ , he thinks to himself.  _Aim for the eyes.  Make every shot count._   As he carefully lines up the scope, mere seconds feel like hours.  _Shoot straight_ , he thinks to himself like a prayer as he squeezes on the exhale. 

     The shot hits its mark, but the maw barely notices.  Seung reloads his rifle and tries again. 

     When the fifth fleet finds him, Seung is still shooting as the maw finally collapses into the sand. 

* * *

     The first thing to cross Seung-hyun Shepard’s mind when he jerks awake on a Cerberus station is his crew.  Kaidan, Joker, Liara, Pressley; their images flash in front of him and he prays to whoever can hear him that they made it out safe.  The second thing to cross his mind is the distinct lack of a gun in his hand.

     The predator is too small for his liking, but the metal and plastic under his fingers feels like home and Seung is immediately calm.  He grins as the British woman on the intercom warns him about approaching mechs; _this_ , Seung knows, _I can handle._

     When Kaidan rejects him two weeks later, Seung doesn’t shout, he doesn’t cry.  He lines up the next shot resolves to take out the Collectors or die trying.  _Shoot straight_ , he tells himself, as if that can fill the void in his chest. 

* * *

      Alone in London in the final push for the beam, Shepard tries to drown out the screams of the dead and the dying with the feeling of a gun in his hand, but it doesn’t work.  The pistol in his hand is a pathetic substitute for his Viper, and the marauder in front of him seems like an insurmountable obstacle without Kaidan to overload its shields, leaving it exposed for Seung to kill with a single shot. 

     Hacket’s voice over the comms shocks Seung back to reality.  _One last round_ , he breathes, ignoring the white-hot pain of his seared armor.  _Shoot straight._  

     When offered an impossible choice, Seung-hyun Shepard levels his pistol at the power conduit and breathes in, familiar mantras running through his mind.  Before he can pull the trigger, he remembers Legion, dying on Rannoch.  He remembers all the Geth, dead because of his own incompetence.  _If even one of them survived, how can I kill them now?_ Seung’s breath comes in labored gasps.  _The don’t deserve to die at my hand.  Not again._ Seung remembers Eve, and Ashley, and everyone else he’s ever failed, and drops his gun. 

     Seung gasps for air as he stumbles forward, but his lungs don’t seem to fill.  _Ash.  Legion.  Kaidan._   The pain is blinding, and it is all Seung can do to keep limping forward.  _I’ve failed you all, so many times.  I can do this for you, now.  Anyone can die; even I can’t screw this up._  

     When Seung’s oxygen starved, burned and broken body gives out, he falls forward.  Dying, as it turns out, is just as easy as falling. 

**Author's Note:**

> I take requests at vvarp-core.tumblr.com


End file.
